Ouya promises to match Kickstarter funds for game developers

Ouya is launching a $1 million Kickstarter campaign in August to support developers creating games for the new Android console.

Any funds raised by game developers working on exclusive titles for the Ouya will have their figures matched by the company as part of its new $1 million Kickstarter campaign.

Starting on August 9, Ouya and its CEO Julie Uhrman will match the funds of any game developers pledging between $50,000 (£32,9000) and $250,000 (£164,000) on Kickstarter to mark the one-year anniversary of its own Kickstarter campaign.

“There are two reasons why Ouya is on retail store shelves today: we had an innovative idea to build an affordable and open games console for the television, and we found fans who support our idea and provided the funds to make it happen,” said Uhrman.

The fund matching will continue until all of the $1 million “Free the Games Fund” has been spent or August 10 2014 rolls around, whichever comes soonest. The funding will only apply to Kickstarter campaigns launching during that window.

“Since then, we’ve seen dozens of great games launch on Kickstarter, and now we are in the enviable position of being able to give back and secure the best, exclusive games for Ouya.”

In addition to the financial requirements, the developer must also keep the title as an Ouya exclusive for at least six months in order to qualify.

As an added incentive, Ouya is promising an extra reward for the campaign that raises the most money.

“The kicker, at the end, is whichever raises the best will get a $100,000 bonus. We’re saying, ‘hey, you’re a rock star!’,” added Uhrman.

The Ouya console itself started as a Kickstarter campaign baby, managing to raise nearly $8.6 million (£5.7 million) for the design and production of the little Android console.

This far surpassed the $950,000 (£624,000) the company had initially thought it had required to make the Ouya, which made it one of the most successful Kickstarter campaigns. Next, read our Xbox One vs PS4 comparison.